Quick Steps

Before you begin, ensure your success by following these steps.

Make sure you have a stable internet connection.

Ensure you have administrator privileges on your computer.

Turn off all anti-virus and firewall software, as it can affect the activation process. Be sure to turn it back on again at the end of this process. If you do not know how to do this, contact your IT department.

If you use a dongle, insert it into the computer's USB port before you proceed.
Caution: If you do not insert the dongle, the software will not find a license key and the activate or update process fails. To correct this, close FARO® SmartInspect, insert the dongle, and start again.

Download and install SmartInspect software.
Open SmartInspect and run it as a trial or if you have a product key or dongle, activate or upgrade your license.

The sections below show you how to access the License Update Client to activate or update a license key using the automatic or manual processes.

Overview

SmartInspect comes with a 90-day trial license key that enables you to run and use SmartInspect. The trial key does not have to be activated. It is meant to give you time to familiarize yourself with SmartInspect or to contact FARO sales to purchase SmartInspect and choose a warranty option. As part of this purchase you receive a license key either as a dongle/portlock or product key you type into the software. The key entitles you to receive software upgrades during a specified time.

Activate Key

Using a dongle? A dongle does not need to be activated, just detected by SmartInspect. Before you open SmartInspect, insert the dongle into a USB port on your computer. Then double-click the SmartInspect icon on your desktop to open and use SmartInspect. The license on your dongle is automatically detected.

Using a product Key? You must activate a product key the first time you use it. You can use either an automatic or manual process for activating your product key.

Update Key

When you upgrade to the last version, the process is automatic as long as you have a stable internet connection, room enough to install the latest version on your computer's hard drive, and have an up-to-date warranty. To be sure your warranty is up to date, check its status on FARONOW. If you find that your warranty has expired, you can continue to use the version of SmartInspect that is already running on your computer. But, you will not be able to run software upgrades on an ongoing basis until you renew the warranty. Click here to purchase a warranty plan.

After you renew the warranty, use the manual product key update section in this article to apply the update and extend the time on your existing key: either dongle or product key. This entitles you to receive and use upgrades to SmartInspect.

Even when you are within the specified time on the key, when you upgrade SmartInspect from one major release to another, the software may prompt you to update your key. An example of this would be when you upgrade SmartInspect from version 1.1 to 1.2. When this happens, just update the key without concern about the warranty.

License Update Client

To help you maintain keys, SmartInspect has a separate License Update Client. The License Update Client enables you to check for software updates and manually apply a license key update. You access the License Update Client from the Windows Start menu by clicking All Programs > FARO > SmartInspect x.x > FARO License Update Client. See the SmartInspect User Manual for details about the License Update Client.

Tips

Make your life easier by keeping a list of keys, related installations of SmartInspect on specific computers in your work environment, and related warranty IDs. This list helps you when it is time to renew warranties.

Always refer to Before you Begin in the Quick Start section to make sure the automatic activate and update processes complete successfully.

Start with the automatic processes and use the manual processes only if the automated ones are not successful in your work environment.

Automatically Activate or Update a License Key

If you are activating a new license key or have just downloaded and installed an upgrade for SmartInspect and have an up-to-date warranty, follow these instructions. To be sure your warranty is up to date, check its status on FARONOW. If your warranty is not up-to-date, click here to purchase an extension, go to the manual product key update section in this article to apply the update and extend the time on your existing key.

On your desktop, double-click the SmartInspect icon to open the software.

If the Product Key window does not appear, you are done!

If the Product Key window appears, in the Enter Product Key field, type the product key, and click OK. Open SmartInspect. If the Product Key window does not appear, you are done!

If the Product Key window appears again, click the X to close the Product Key window. SmartInspect closes.

Click Start. If you have more than one key to update, select a key. You can only select one key at a time. Continue to the next step.
If instead you see a message that tells you a license is not available to update, click OK, close the Update Client Utility, and click here to manually update the license key.

The Update License Client runs, displaying prompts that show the status of the connection to the FARO license server. Do not close this window; it may take several minutes to update the key. The green status bar moves while the update process continues.

When the prompt displays License update(s) successfully applied, click Close. On your desktop, double-click the SmartInspect icon to open SmartInspect. If the Product Key window does not appear, you are done!

If instead you see a message that says there are no license updates available, click OK, and close the Update Client Utility. Click here to manually update the license key

Manually Activate or Update a License Key

If you recently renewed your warranty, encounter connection problems while updating a license key, error prompts appear while the Update License Client is running, or after you complete the update process and the Product Key window continues to appear, activate or update your product key manually. This process takes only a few minutes to create an email with an attached .C2V file that you send to the FARO automated license system. Once your email is received, the system sends you an email with a matching .V2C file attached. Use this file to activate your license.

.C2V and .V2C files are unique to the computer you use with SmartInspect and hold information pertaining to FARO software product keys. You cannot interchange these files with different computers.

To create a .C2V file, use theFARO Remote Update System (RUS) tool. Before you begin, make sure you already have entered the product keys you have or, if you are using a dongle, make sure it is properly connected to your computer's USB port.

Open the Remote Update System Tool

Before you begin, make sure you already have entered the product keys you have or, if you are using a dongle, make sure it is properly connected to your computer's USB port.

On the computer where you want to activate or update the license key, open the RUS tool. From the Start menu, click All Programs > FARO > SmartInspect x.x> FARO Remote Update System.

The Sentinel HASP RUS window appears.

Create a .C2V File

In the Sentinel HASP RUS window, on the Collect Status Information tab, and click Collect Information. The Select HASP Key dialog box appears.
If you only use one product key or dongle on this computer, continue to the next step. If you use multiple product keys or dongles on this computer, for FARO or any other vendor's software, the Select HASP Key dialog box appears. Select the product/license key that applies to your FARO software and click OK.
Note: HL- stands for hard lock--a license key stored on a dongle. SL- stands for soft lock--a product key stored in the software on your computer.

in the Save Key Status As window, navigate to the location where you want to save the .C2V file, enter a File name, and click Save.

The Sentinel HASP RUS window appears with a success message when the process is complete.

Locate the .C2V file, attach it to an email, and send it to licenses@faro.com.
Within several minutes, this automated system sends you an email reply with an attached .V2C file. If you do not receive the .V2C file from the automated system within half an hour, contact FARO Support.

Apply a.V2C File

Once you receive the automated email with the .V2C file attached, use the FARO Remote Update System (RUS) to apply the file. If you use a dongle, make sure it is properly connected to your computer's USB port before you begin.

On the computer where you want to update the license key, save the .V2C file attached to the email you received from the FARO automated license update system. If you have not received this email, contact FARO Support.

Open the RUS tool and in the Sentinel HASP RUS window, click the Apply License Update tab.

Click to navigate to the location where you saved the .V2C file.

In the Select the file to apply window, click All Files (*.*), select the .V2C file, and click Open.

Click Apply Update.

The Sentinel HASP RUS window appears with a success message when the process is complete.

Open SmartInspect. If the Product Key window does not appear, you are done!
If the Product Key window still appears or you continue to have license issues issues, please contact FARO Support.

Transfer a Product Key from One Computer to Another

If you get a new computer or hard drive and you use a product key to supply the license to SmartInspect, install SmartInspect on the new computer or hard drive. Then, go to the Automatically Activate New Product Key section of this article and follow the steps. This should add the product key to the new computer or hard drive as long as you have not used up the three activations that came with your product key. When you open SmartInspect, the Product Key window should not appear.